Asics Metaspeed Edge Paris versus Nike Vaporfly 3: A Review with a Twist

How I Chose the Super-Shoe for My Target Marathon

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For the past two years, I have raced chiefly with the Asics Metaspeed Sky(+)—which I first ordered directly from Japan via eBay (they were the latest thing in September 2022). However, the quality of super-shoes on the market has continued to rise, and I opted to reconsider after plenty of racing in two pairs of the Sky.

My focus this year has been on cracking 2:39 for the marathon. Much toing and froing has led me to two candidate shoes: the Asics Metaspeed Edge Paris and the Nike Vaporfly 3. Although the Edge is supposed to be for cadence/shuffle runners—not stride runners like me—I opted to give it a try and get a feel for its quickness through the toes. Both the Edge and Vaporfly have highly curved carbon plates that emphasize quickness rather than leverage for stride length.

The target race is tomorrow, as I write this: the Long View Marathon from Fort Collins to Loveland—essentially my home course (discount code: FERGRUNNING).

While my approach to deciding was complicated, the outcome proved more difficult than anticipated. To cut to the conclusion, I will run in the Edge, but with a major caveat, of which you should be aware.

Keep in mind, both are top-of-the-line shoes. Given their precision, plenty comes down to personal feel. Both have proved their capacity to bring victories and have major marathoners running in them.

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Test Runs

For both shoes, I ran my regular home 10-mile loop around Fort Collins, and I injected four one-kilometer intervals at a bit quicker than race pace (around six-minute miles or 3:40 kilometers).

Both such runs were in the evening, and both had similar conditions. However, I did run in the Edge first and then the Vaporfly four days later. See brief clips below: the Edge in yellow and then the Vaporfly in white.

The conclusion: the Edge was snappier. It felt sharper and lighter. I will list out the advantages of each in the conclusion, but the difference was clear to me. In fact, the turnover in the Edge was so quick, I almost felt off balance, with my legs getting ahead of my body. My sense is the Edge is modeled after the Vaporfly with a few neat improvements. Nike achieved a first-mover advantage with carbon-plated shoes, but other brands have caught up quickly.

Keep in mind, I have previously been racing in the Sky (left). Further, I have trained tempos in the Asics Magic Speed (right) and the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 2 (middle). Although not normally a Puma man, I was back in New Zealand when there was a 50 percent-off sale. I picked up a pair and liked them, so I continue to use them for tempos and shorter races. They are another solid option for the marathon, and I paced the three-hour group in them at the Calgary Marathon in Alberta.

The Weigh-In

This is where the story gets interesting. Before the Vaporfly run, I remembered to weigh both pairs of size-11 shoes. The Vaporflys came in at 217/216 grams (left/right), and the Edges came in at 203/194. I repeated this a bunch of times and, even after a cleaning, the weights did not change; nor did they change after the run in the Vaporfly.

In other words, the left Edge was 4.6 percent heavier than the right. This did not seem kosher to me, and I reached out to Asics. After they wasted my time and had me deal with a call center in a faraway land, they forwarded my case to a warranty unit. After a weekend and three and a half business days, I received an email that they would provide me with a voucher of equal value to buy a new pair on the Asics website. That could have been a different pair—the Metaspeed Sky Paris was tempting—but I was determined to try out the Edge in a race, so I bought a second pair.

The reply was just in time for me to receive my new shoes before the race, but you can guess where this is going. I weighed the new pair right away, and they came in at 200/206—a similar but smaller disparity. The good news is that I can use the lighter of each pair, so 200/194.

This smacks me as odd, especially since the Vaporfly came in with just one gram of separation. Further, I have always respected Asics as made by a Japanese firm with extreme devotion to quality. My first pair of serious running shoes, back when I was 12 or 13 in New Zealand, were the Asics Gel 123. I loved those babies, and that led me to favor Asics in the years to come, although I have shifted away from them over the last decade for regular training shoes.

Head to Head

While the Edge is my preferred choice, but are both sophisticated shoes, so we are to some degree nitpicking. The Edge appears—now made in Vietnam—to have some manufacturing imprecision. If you buy them, weigh them right away so you can decide whether you want to return them. After you have run in them, this is difficult.

Vaporfly advantages: sturdier build and more durability, better aesthetics, more on-top ventilation, a slightly more stable, comfortable feel, especially around the ankles.

Edge advantages: 7.3 percent lighter (on average), a wider/roomier toe box, a quicker turnover, a slightly more energetic feel.

Both had a great lockdown over the forefoot, but you need to tie your laces tightly (with heel-lock lacing). Both shoes show a bit of looseness as you get further into your run. Especially for the Vaporfly, I would go larger if you are debating between two half sizes. The Edge feels more true to size.

If you would like to add your own perspective or challenge mine politely, please leave a comment here or on YouTube. Please also subscribe for more endurance updates, be that on Substack or YouTube, and connect with me on Strava.